Facilitating communication with a vehicle via a UAV

ABSTRACT

Embodiments are provided for facilitating communications with a vehicle through an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV can be configured to track vehicles traveling in an area covered by the UAV. An identification of the vehicle can be acquired after the vehicle is tracked by the UAV. The vehicle identification can be used to determine communication capability of the vehicle. Based on the determined communication capability of the vehicle, a communication request can be initiated by the UAV. The vehicle can determine either accept the communication request from the UAV or turn it down. If the vehicle accepts the communication request from the UAV, information intended for the vehicle, for example from another vehicle, can be forwarded to the vehicle by the UAV.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. Nonprovisionalapplication Ser. No. 15/341,809, filed Nov. 2, 2016, which claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/274,112, filed on Dec.31, 2015, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference inits entirety for all purposes.

The present application is related to the following co-pending U.S.Nonprovisional patent applications: U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser.No. 15/341,813, filed Nov. 2, 2016; U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser.No. 15/341,818, filed Nov. 2, 2016; U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser.No. 15/341,824, filed Nov. 2, 2016; and U.S. Nonprovisional applicationSer. No. 15/341,831, filed Nov. 2, 2016. The entire disclosures of eachof these applications are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentireties for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to facilitating telecommunicationsthrough unmanned aerial vehicle, and more specifically to facilitatingtelecommunications through self-sustaining unmanned aerial vehicle.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone and alsoreferred by several other names, is an aircraft without a human pilotaboard. The flight of UAVs may be controlled either autonomously byonboard computers or by the remote control of a pilot on the ground orin another vehicle. UAVs have mostly found military and specialoperation applications, but also are increasingly finding uses in civilapplications, such as policing, surveillance and firefighting, andnonmilitary security work, such as inspection of power or pipelines.UAVs are adept at gathering an immense amount of visual information anddisplaying it to human operators. However, it can take a great deal oftime and manpower to interpret the information gathered by UAVs. In manycases, the information gathered by UAVs is misinterpreted by humanoperators and analysts who have a limited time window in which tointerpret the information.

Cellular telecommunication protocol is generally known, such as thethird or 4^(th) generation of mobile phone networks. Radio spectrum is ascarce resource in cellular networks. Governments license the right touse parts of the spectrum to the cellular network operators, often usinga spectrum auction in which network operators submit bids. Thearchitecture of the cellular network mainly comprises subscriber devicesand base stations. The base stations implement air interfaces with thesubscriber devices. For many rural areas, the coverage of base stationsprovided by the telecommunication operators do not reach those areas.

SUMMARY

Embodiments are provided for facilitating communications with a vehiclethrough an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV can be configured totrack vehicles traveling in an area covered by the UAV. Anidentification of the vehicle can be acquired after the vehicle istracked by the UAV. The vehicle identification can be used to determinecommunication capability of the vehicle. Based on the determinedcommunication capability of the vehicle, a communication request can beinitiated by the UAV. The vehicle can determine either accept thecommunication request from the UAV or turn it down. If the vehicleaccepts the communication request from the UAV, information intended forthe vehicle, for example from another vehicle, can be forwarded to thevehicle by the UAV.

Embodiments can provide communication protocols for communications tothe vehicle via a processing station. The processing station may beconfigured to have a communication link with the UAV 102 that cancommunicate with the vehicle as described above. The processing stationcan be connected to a core network that provides, for example, acellular network, a public switched telephone network (PTSN) and/or theInternet. The processing station can serve as relay point or a routerfor forwarding information to the vehicle via the UAV. For example, theprocessing station can forward information from a server to the vehiclevia the UAV. The processing station can also serve as a relay point orrouter to communicate information from the vehicle 106 to other entitiesconnected to the core network.

Embodiments can provide communication protocols for communicationsbetween two vehicles. Each vehicle can have a communication link with acorresponding UAV. The UAVs can be configured to communicate with eachother directly or via a processing station. The vehicles can communicatewith each other via the communication link established by the UAVs.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art based on the following drawings and detaileddescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention, are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the detailed description serve to explain the principlesof the invention. No attempt is made to show structural details of theinvention in more detail than may be necessary for a fundamentalunderstanding of the invention and various ways in which it may bepracticed.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary UAV network in accordance with thedisclosure.

FIG. 2A illustrates one example of communications between a vehicle, aUAV and a ground processing station shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2B illustrates a view of the network shown in FIG. 1 with respectto areas covered by UAVs.

FIG. 2C illustrates another view of network shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates one example of a communication protocol between avehicle, a UAV, and a processing station shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 illustrates another example of a communication protocol that canbe used to communicate information to a given vehicle via a UAV and aprocessing station shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a communication protocol between twovehicles via respective UAVs.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a device for facilitating communicationwith a given vehicle in accordance with the disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates one exemplary method for facilitating communicationwith a vehicle via a UAV in accordance with the disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates a simplified computer system, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

In the appended figures, similar components and/or features may have thesame numerical reference label. Further, various components of the sametype may be distinguished by following the reference label by a letterthat distinguishes among the similar components and/or features. If onlythe first numerical reference label is used in the specification, thedescription is applicable to any one of the similar components and/orfeatures having the same first numerical reference label irrespective ofthe letter suffix.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Various specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be describedbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings constituting a part ofthis specification. It should be understood that, although structuralparts and components of various examples of the present disclosure aredescribed by using terms expressing directions, e.g., “front”, “back”,“upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right” and the like in the presentdisclosure, these terms are merely used for the purpose of convenientdescription and are determined on the basis of exemplary directionsdisplayed in the accompanying drawings. Since the embodiments disclosedby the present disclosure may be set according to different directions,these terms expressing directions are merely used for describing ratherthan limiting. Under possible conditions, identical or similar referencenumbers used in the present disclosure indicate identical components.

UAVs are well suited for applications where the payload consists ofoptical image sensors such as cameras with powerful lightweight sensorssuited for a variety of commercial applications such as surveillance,video conferencing, vehicle positioning, and/or any other applications.A UAV in accordance with the disclosure can collect multi-spectralimagery of any object in an area covered the UAV. In certainembodiments, the UAV in accordance with the disclosure can fly up to65,000 feet and can cover as much as 500 km in range. One motivation ofthe present disclosure is to employ UAVs to facilitate communicationsbetween vehicles. In certain areas, especially rural areas, deploymentof cellular networks is limited due to cost and benefit considerations.In those areas, cellular coverage is often less than desirable.Communications between vehicles traveling in those areas throughcellular networks is thus not reliable. Another motivation of thepresent disclosure is to provide an alternative wireless communicationprotocol to the existing ones. Mobility of a vehicle is obviously muchgreater than a mobile device carried by a person. When a vehicle movesout of the range of one cellular base station and into the range ofanother one, the flow of data must be re-routed from the old to the newcell base station. This technique is known as handover or handoff. Avehicle can quickly move in and out of a cell, which can requirefrequent handoff between cells. As handoff incurs overhead and does notalways take place instantly as a vehicle move from one cell to anothercell at a high speed, communications between two vehicles through acellular network is not reliable. Thus, the existing cellular networksare not suitable for communications between two vehicles. Whilesatellite communications are also possible, the cost of using satellitemakes it not commercially viable for vehicle communications. Embodimentsprovide communication technologies to facilitate telecommunications fora moving vehicle via UAV and/or ground processing station.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary UAV network 100 for facilitatingcommunications for a an vehicle in accordance with the disclosure. Asshown, the UAV network 100 can comprise multiple UAVs 102, such as UAVs102 a-f. It should be understood the UAV network 100, in certainembodiments, can comprise hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousandsof UAVs 102. The individual UAVs 102 in network 100, such as UAV 102 a,can fly above the ground, between 50,000 to 65,000 feet altitude.However, this is not intended to be limiting. In some examples, some orall of the UAVs 102 in the network 100 can fly at hundreds or thousandsfeet above the ground. As shown, the individual UAVs 102 in the network100 can communicate with each other through communication hardwarecarried by or installed on UAVs 102. For example, the communicationhardware onboard a UAV 102 can include an antenna, a high frequencyradio transceiver, an optical transceiver, and/or any othercommunication components for long range communications. A communicationchannel between any two given UAVs 102 in network 100, for example, UAV102 c and UAV 102 d, can be established.

One way of establishing a communication channel between any two givenUAVs is to have them autonomously establish the communication channelthrough the communication hardware onboard the two given UAVs 102. Inthis example, UAVs 102 a, 102 b and 102 c are neighboring UAVs such thatthey cover neighboring areas 104 a, 104 b, and 104 c respectively. Theycan be configured to communicate with each other once they are within athreshold distance. The threshold distance can be the maximumcommunication range of the transceivers onboard the UAVs 102 a, 102 b,and 102 c. In this way, UAVs 102 a, 102 b, and 102 c can send data toeach other without an access point.

Another way of establishing a communication channel between any twogiven UAVs 102 in network 100 is to have them establish communicationchannel through a controller. As used herein, a controller may bereferred to as a piece of hardware and/or software configured to controlcommunications within network 100. The controller can be provided by aground processing station, such as ground processing station 110 a, 110b, or 110 c. For instance, the controller can be implemented by acomputer server housed in a ground processing station 110. In certainembodiments, the controller can be provide by a UAV 102 in the network100. For instance, a given UAV 102, such as a unmanned helicopter or aballoon, in the network 100 can carry payloads including one or more ofa processor configured to implement the controller. In any case, thecontroller can be configured to determine network requirements based onan application supported by network 100, and/or to perform any otheroperations. In implementations, control signals can be transmitted via acontrol link from the controller to the UAVs 102 shown in FIG. 1.

As mentioned above, an important criteria to a UAV 102 in the network isaltitude. However, as the UAV 102 altitude increases, the signalsemitted by UAV 102 becomes weaker. A UAV 102 flying at an altitude of65,000 feet can cover an area up to 100 kilometers on the ground, butthe signal loss can be significantly higher than would occur for aterrestrial network. Radio signals typically requires a large amount ofpower for transmission in long distance. On the other end, the payloadscan be carried by a UAV 102 that stays in the air for an extended periodof time is limited. As mentioned above, solar energy can be used topower the UAV 102. However this limits the weight of payloads that canbe carried by a UAV 102 due to the limited rate at which solarirritation can be absorbed and converted to electricity.

Free-space optical communication (FSO) is an optical communicationtechnology that transmits light in free space to wirelessly transmitdata for telecommunications. Commercially available FSO systems use wavelength close to visible spectrum around 850 to 1550 nm. In a basispoint-to-point FSO system, two FSO transceivers can be placed on bothsides of transmission path that has unobstructed line-of-sight betweenthe two FSO transceivers. A variety of light sources can be used for thetransmission of data using FSO transceivers. For example, LED and lasercan be used to transmit data in a FSO system.

Lasers used in FSO systems provide extremely high bandwidths andcapacity, on par with terrestrial fiber optic networks, but they alsoconsume much less power than microwave systems. A FSO unit can beincluded in the payloads of a UAV 102 for communication. The FSO unitcan include an optical transceiver with a laser transmitter and areceiver to provide full duplex bi-directional capability. The FSO unitcan use a high-power optical source, i.e., laser, and a lens to transmitthe laser beam through the atmosphere to another lens receiving theinformation embodied in the laser beam. The receiving lens can connectto a high-sensitivity receiver via optical fiber. The FSO unit includedin a UAV 102 in accordance with the disclosure can enable opticaltransmission at speeds up to 10 Gbps.

Also shown in FIG. 1 are vehicles 106 a-f. The vehicles 106 can beequipped with communication hardware. The communication hardware in agiven vehicle 106 can include a FSO unit described above, a radiotransceiver, and/or any other type of communication hardware. Thecommunication hardware included in the vehicles 106 can be used toestablish a communication channel between the vehicles 106 via the UAVs102. FIG. 2A illustrates one example of communications between a vehicle106, a UAV 102 and a ground processing station 110. As shown, thevehicle 106 can include a FSO unit 202 a, which can include an opticaltransceiver. The optical transceiver included in the FSO unit 202 a canbe configured to receive laser beam 204 from UAV 102, and/or transmitthe laser beam 204 to UAV 102. The UAV 102 can include one or more of aFSO unit as well. In this example, UAV 102 includes a FSO unit 202 cconfigured to communicate with a FSO unit in a vehicle 106, and anotherFSO unit 202 d configured to communicate with a FSO unit 202 b in aground processing station 110. However, this is not necessarily the onlycase. In some other examples, UAV 102 may comprise a single FSO unitconfigured to communicate with a FSO unit in vehicle 106 and as well asa FSO unit in ground processing station 110. In any case, in order forFSO units 202 a and 202 c to communicate, there should be a line ofsight (LoS) between them so that laser beam 204 a can be transmitted andreceived. The wavelength of the laser beam 204 a can be between 600 nmto 2000 nm. Once the FSO units 202 a and 202 c are aligned with eachother, optical data can be transmitted between UAV 102 and vehicle 106.

As also shown in FIG. 2A, a ground processing station 110 can include aFSO unit 202 b configured to establish a communication channel FSO unit202 d through laser beam 204 b. Through the communication channel, UAV102 can be configured to communicate its geo-locations to processingstation 110. Since ground processing station 110 is stationary, thegeo-location of ground processing station 110 can be preconfigured intoan onboard computer in UAVs 102. Through the ground processing station110, information intended for vehicle 106 can be forwarded to vehicle106. As shown, the ground processing station 110 can be connected to awired or wireless network. Information intended for vehicle 106 can becommunicated through the wired or wireless network from or to anotherentity connected to the wired or wireless network. The informationintended for vehicle 106 can be first communicated to the UAV 102through laser beam 204 b, and the UAV 102 can forward the information tovehicle 106 through laser beam 204 a.

FIG. 2B illustrates a view of network 100 with respect to areas 104covered by UAVs 102. As shown, a given area 104, such as area 104 a, 104c, 104 d, 104 e, 104 f, can be covered by a UAV 102, such as UAV 102 a-erespectively. As also shown, in certain areas 104, such as areas 104 b,104 g and 104 h, a processing station 110, such as processing station110 a-c can be provided. The processing station 110 a-c can serve asaccess points for a given vehicle 106 to communicate with other vehiclesand as well to access as a core network. This is illustrated in FIG. 2C.

FIG. 2C illustrates another view of network 100. As shown, vehicles 106a-c can communicate with UAVs 102 a-c via a FSO interface 210. In thisexample, the UAVs 102 a-c are operatively connected processing stations110 a and 110 b as shown. The processing stations 110 and UAVs 102together make up UAV access network 206. The processing stations 110 canbe connected to a core network 208 which can comprise a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN) or the Internet through a mobile switchingcenter (MSC), a Gateway Mobile Switching center, a media gateway (MGW).As also shown, the core network 208 can include a PS (Profile Server) inthe core network that registers the location of vehicles 106 and as wellas locations of UAVs 102, and other profile information that is used forauthentication and authorization. In this way, vehicles 106 can be foundby the profile server.

With architecture and infrastructure of network 100 having beengenerally described, attention is now directed to FIG. 3. FIG. 3illustrates one example of a communication protocol between a vehicle106, a UAV 102, and a processing station 110. As shown, at S302, atracking signal can be transmitted from UAV 102 for tracking vehicle106. The tracking signal can be in various forms. For example, the UAV102 may scan the covered area 104 with a camera aboard UAV 102 in apre-determined pattern. For example, the UAV 102 may scan the coveredarea 104 in a scan line fashion from on one corner of the covered area104 to the opposite corner of the covered area 104. As another example,the UAV 102 may scan the covered area 104 in a concentric sphere fashionstarting from an outer sphere within the covered area 104, graduallyinto inner spheres within the covered area 104 until the center of thecovered area 104. Still as another example, the UAV 102 may scan thecovered area along predefined lines of areas 104, for example a portionof a road that enters area 104 and another portion of the road thatexits area 104. In certain embodiments, the UAV 102 may carry a radiotransmitter configured to broadcast in radio signals within the coveredarea 104. In those examples, the broadcast radio signals can serve astracking signals such that once they are intercepted by a vehicle 106passing through the covered area 104, the UAV 102 can be configured tolocation a position of the vehicle 106 within the covered area 104.

At S304, an identification of the vehicle 106 can be captured after thevehicle 106 has been tracked by UAV 102. In certain implementations, theidentification of the vehicle 106 can be captured by a camera carried bythe UAV 102. For example, the UAV 102 may be configured to capture apicture of a license plate of vehicle 106 once it has been tracked. Asanother example, the UAV 102 may be configured to transmit a request tovehicle 106 to inquire about its identification, and the vehicle 106 cansend its identification to the UAV 102 in response to the request.

At S306, information regarding the vehicle 106 can be obtained and/orregistered. In certain implementations, once the identification ofvehicle 106 is captured by UAV 102 at S304, the UAV 102 can obtaininformation regarding the vehicle 106, for example, from the profileserver via the processing station 110 as shown in FIG. 2C. For instance,the UAV 102 can transmit the identification of the vehicle 106 to theprofile server and the profile server can look the vehicle 106 up basedon identification received. The profile server, in that example, canprovide the vehicle information regarding the vehicle 106 to UAV 102once it finds a match. The information regarding vehicle 106 can includeinformation regarding communication capability of vehicle 106, such asone or more communication hardware carried by the vehicle. Theinformation regarding vehicle 106 can include information indicating amodel, type, make, and/or any other information regarding a type of thevehicle 106. Such information may be used to by UAV 102 to assist itscommunication with vehicle 106.

In certain embodiments, UAV 102 can be configured to register thevehicle 106 with the profile server when no information regardingvehicle 106 is obtained from the profile server. For example, UAV 102may provide the identification information regarding vehicle 106 to theprofile server to have the profile server to establish a record forvehicle 106 and obtain information regarding vehicle 106.

At S308, UAV 102 can initiate a request to communicate with vehicle 106based on the information obtained at S306. For example, the UAV 102 cansend a handshake message to vehicle 106 via the FSO units 202 a and 202b shown FIG. 2 to request the vehicle 106 to establish a communicationchannel between vehicle 106 and UAV 102. In certain implementations, UAV102 can include checksums in the handshake message.

At S310, vehicle 106 can send an acknowledge message back to UAV 102 inresponse to receiving the handshake message transmitted at S308. In someimplementations, vehicle 106 can determine if the handshake messagetransmitted at S308 is damaged by computing the checksums embedded inthe handshake message. In those implementations, if vehicle 106determines that the handshake message has been received without any dataloss or being damaged, it can send an acknowledgment to UAV 102acknowledging that the handshake message has been received withouterror. If vehicle 106 determines that the received handshake message isdamaged, it can send an acknowledgement to the UAV 102 requesting theUAV 102 to resend the handshake message. This process can be repeateduntil the handshake message is received at vehicle 106 without error.

At S312, vehicle 106 can be registered to indicate a communication linkis established with vehicle 106. For example, the registration can madeat the profile server shown in FIG. 2C. At S314, a communication channelcan be established between UAV 102 and vehicle 106.

FIG. 4 illustrates one example of a communication protocol that can beused to communicate information to a given vehicle 106 via UAV 102 andprocessing station 110. As shown, at S402, an inquiry request regardingvehicle 106 can be communicated from processing station 110 to UAV 102.The inquiry request can be generated when the processing station 110receives a communication request from another vehicle 106 to communicatewith the given vehicle 106. The inquiry request transmitted at S402 canserve as an instruction that instructs UAV 102 to verify whether thegiven vehicle 106 is available for communication. In implementations,the processing station 110 may communicate the inquiry request to UAV102 based on a routing table indicating that the UAV 102 can establish acommunication link with the given vehicle 106.

At S404, communications can be established between UAV 102 and the givenvehicle 106. For example, the communications between UAV 102 and thegiven vehicle 106 can be established using the protocol illustrated inFIG. 3.

At S406, the UAV 102 can send a message to processing station 110 toconfirm that the given vehicle 106 is available for communication. Theconfirmation communicated by the UAV 102 at S406 can be performed afterthe communication between vehicle 106 and UAV 102 is established.

At S408, information communicated from another UAV 102 can betransmitted to the UAV 102. As mentioned above, the processing stationmay serve as a relay point or router for another UAV 102 to communicatethe information 102 to the given vehicle 106. The communication at S408can be performed in response to the confirmation received from UAV 102at S406.

At S410, a request for the given vehicle 106 to receive the informationcommunicated from processing station 110 at S408 can be transmitted toUAV 102. The request transmitted at S410 can serve as a probing messageto probe whether the given vehicle 106 has capacity left to receive theinformation communicated from another UAV 102. For example, the givenvehicle 106 may not always have capacity to process the informationcommunicated from another UAV 102, or the given vehicle 106 may be setto a mode in which not incoming information is to be received.

At S412, the information from another vehicle 106 can be forwarded tothe given vehicle 106 from UAV 102. At S414, acknowledgement can betransmitted from the given vehicle 106 to UAV 102 indicating that theinformation transmitted to the given vehicle 106 at S412 is received bythe given vehicle 106. At S416, the acknowledgement received by UAV 102can be forwarded to processing station 110, which can forward theacknowledgement to another vehicle 106.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a communication protocol between twovehicles 106 via respective UAVs 102. As shown, in certainimplementations, a first UAV 102 can be configured to communicate with afirst vehicle 106 and a second UAV 102 can be configured to communicatewith a second vehicle 102. Those communications can be facilitated bythe communication protocols shown in FIGS. 3-4. As also shown, the firstor second vehicle 106 can be communicate with each other via the firstand second UAVs 102. The first and second UAVs 102 may forward theinformation communicated between the first and second vehicles eitherdirectly to each other or via a processing station 110 as shown. Thecommunications between UAVs 102 and/or the processing stations 110 areillustrated in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a device 600 for facilitatingcommunication with a given vehicle 106 in accordance with thedisclosure. In certain embodiments, device 600 can be provided in a UAV102. For example, the device 600 can be part of the payload carried byUAV 102. In any case, as shown, device 600 can include one or more of aprocessor 602 configured to implement programmed components. Theprogrammed components can include a tracking component 604, a vehicleidentification component 606, a vehicle information component 608, acommunication component 610, a vehicle status component 612 and/or anyother components.

The tracking component 604 can be configured to manage UAVs 102 in thenetwork 102. In implementations, the tracking component 604 can instructgeneration of tracking signals and direct the tracking signals to betransmitted. The tracking signals can be in various forms. For example,the tracking component 604 may be configured to scan a covered area 104with a camera aboard UAV 102 in a pre-determined pattern configured intothe tracking component 604. For example, the tracking component 604 maybe configured to scan the covered area 104 in a scan line fashion fromon one corner of the covered area 104 to the opposite corner of thecovered area 104. As another example, the tracking component 604 may beconfigured to scan the covered area 104 in a concentric sphere fashionstarting from an outer sphere within the covered area 104, graduallyinto inner spheres within the covered area 104 until the center of thecovered area 104. Still as another example, the tracking component 604may be configured to scan the covered area along predefined lines ofareas 104, for example a portion of a road that enters area 104 andanother portion of the road that exits area 104.

The vehicle identification component 606 can be configured to instructcapturing of an identification of the vehicle 106 after the vehicle 106has been tracked by the tracking component 604. In certainimplementations, vehicle identification component 606 can instruct acamera aboard the UAV 102 to capture the identification of the vehicle106. For example, vehicle identification component 606 may be configuredto instruct the camera to capture a picture of a license plate ofvehicle 106 once it has been tracked and transmit the image to a profileserver to identify the vehicle 106. As another example, the vehicleidentification component 606 may be configured to identify the vehicle106 by transmitting a request to vehicle 106 to inquire about itsidentification, and the vehicle 106 can send its identification to theUAV 102 in response to the request.

The information component 608 can be configured to obtain informationregarding vehicle 106. In implementations, once the identification ofvehicle 106 has been captured by vehicle identification component 606,the information component 608 can obtain information regarding thevehicle 106, for example, from the profile server via the processingstation 110 as shown in FIG. 2C. For instance, the information component608 can transmit the identification of the vehicle 106 to the profileserver and the profile server can look the vehicle 106 up based onidentification received. The profile server, in that example, canprovide the vehicle information regarding the vehicle 106 to informationcomponent 608 once it finds a match. The information regarding vehicle106 can include information regarding communication capability ofvehicle 106, such as one or more communication hardware carried by thevehicle. The information regarding vehicle 106 can include informationindicating a model, type, make, and/or any other information regarding atype of the vehicle 106. Such information may be used to by UAV 102 toassist its communication with vehicle 106.

The communication component 610 can be configured to establish acommunication link between the UAV 102 and vehicle 106, error controlthe communication between the UAV 102 and vehicle 106, managecommunication status, and/or any other operations. In certainembodiments, the communication component 610 can be configured toimplement the communication protocols illustrated in FIGS. 3-5.

The vehicle status component 612 can be configured to obtain a statusfrom an individual vehicle 106. Examples of the statuses that can beobtained by the vehicle status component 612 can include a statusindicating a load of vehicle 106 (e.g., 50% busy, 80% processing poweris used and so on), a status indicating vehicle 106 is available toreceive any information, and/or any other statuses.

FIG. 7 illustrates one exemplary method for facilitating a UAV networkin accordance with the disclosure. The operations of method 700presented below are intended to be illustrative. In some embodiments,method 700 may be accomplished with one or more additional operationsnot described and/or without one or more of the operations discussed.Additionally, the order in which the operations of method 700 areillustrated in FIG. 7 and described below is not intended to belimiting.

In some embodiments, method 700 may be implemented in one or moreprocessing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analog processor, adigital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuitdesigned to process information, a state machine, and/or othermechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices executing some or allof the operations of method 700 in response to instructions storedelectronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices configured throughhardware, firmware, and/or software to be specifically designed forexecution of one or more of the operations of method 700.

At 702, a tracking signal can be transmitted from a UAV. The controlsignal received at 702 can indicate a location of a second UAV. Thetracking signal can be in various forms. For example, the UAV 102 mayscan the covered area 104 with a camera aboard UAV 102 in apre-determined pattern. For example, the UAV 102 may scan the coveredarea 104 in a scan line fashion from on one corner of the covered area104 to the opposite corner of the covered area 104. As another example,the UAV 102 may scan the covered area 104 in a concentric sphere fashionstarting from an outer sphere within the covered area 104, graduallyinto inner spheres within the covered area 104 until the center of thecovered area 104. Still as another example, the UAV 102 may scan thecovered area along predefined lines of areas 104, for example a portionof a road that enters area 104 and another portion of the road thatexits area 104. In certain embodiments, the UAV 102 may carry a radiotransmitter configured to broadcast in radio signals within the coveredarea 104. In some implementations, operation 702 can be performed bytracking component the same as or substantially similar to trackingcomponent 604 described and illustrated herein.

At 704, an identification of the vehicle tracked at 702 can be obtained.In certain implementations, the identification of the vehicle can beobtained by a camera carried by the UAV 102. For example, the UAV may beconfigured to capture a picture of a license plate of vehicle once ithas been tracked. As another example, the UAV may be configured totransmit a request to vehicle to inquire about its identification, andthe vehicle can send its identification to the UAV in response to therequest. In some implementations, operation 704 can be performed by avehicle identification component the same as or substantially similar tovehicle identification component 606 described and illustrated herein.

At 706, information regarding the vehicle identified at 704 can beobtained. In certain implementations, once the identification of vehicleis obtained by UAV 102 at 704, the UAV can obtain information regardingthe vehicle, for example, from the profile server via the processingstation as shown in FIG. 2C. For instance, the UAV can transmit theidentification of the vehicle to the profile server and the profileserver can look the vehicle up based on identification received. Theprofile server, in that example, can provide the vehicle informationregarding the vehicle to UAV once it finds a match. The informationregarding vehicle can include information regarding communicationcapability of vehicle, such as one or more communication hardwarecarried by the vehicle. The information regarding vehicle can includeinformation indicating a model, type, make, and/or any other informationregarding a type of the vehicle. Such information may be used to by UAVto assist its communication with vehicle 106. In some implementations,operation 706 can be performed by an information component the same asor substantially similar to information component 606 described andillustrated herein.

At 708, a request to establish a communication with the vehicle can beinitiated from the UAV based on the information obtained at 706. Forexample, the UAV can send a handshake message to vehicle via the FSOunits 202 a and 202 b shown FIG. 2 to request the vehicle to establish acommunication channel between vehicle and UAV. In certainimplementations, UAV 102 can include checksums in the handshake message.In some implementations, operation 708 can be performed by acommunication component the same as or substantially similar tocommunication component 608 described and illustrated herein.

At 710, a communication channel can be established between the vehicleand UAV. In some implementations, operation 710 can be performed by acommunication component the same as or substantially similar tocommunication component 608 described and illustrated herein.

FIG. 8 illustrates a simplified computer system, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. A computer system 800 asillustrated in FIG. 8 may be incorporated into devices such as aportable electronic device, mobile phone, or other device as describedherein. FIG. 8 provides a schematic illustration of one embodiment of acomputer system 800 that can perform some or all of the steps of themethods provided by various embodiments. It should be noted that FIG. 8is meant only to provide a generalized illustration of variouscomponents, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. FIG. 8,therefore, broadly illustrates how individual system elements may beimplemented in a relatively separated or relatively more integratedmanner.

The computer system 800 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 805, or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate. The hardware elements may include one ormore processors 810, including without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processorssuch as digital signal processing chips, graphics accelerationprocessors, and/or the like; one or more input devices 815, which caninclude without limitation a mouse, a keyboard, a camera, and/or thelike; and one or more output devices 820, which can include withoutlimitation a display device, a printer, and/or the like.

The computer system 800 may further include and/or be in communicationwith one or more non-transitory storage devices 825, which can comprise,without limitation, local and/or network accessible storage, and/or caninclude, without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an opticalstorage device, a solid-state storage device, such as a random accessmemory (“RAM”), and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can beprogrammable, flash-updateable, and/or the like. Such storage devicesmay be configured to implement any appropriate data stores, includingwithout limitation, various file systems, database structures, and/orthe like.

The computer system 800 might also include a communications subsystem830, which can include without limitation a modem, a network card(wireless or wired), an infrared communication device, a wirelesscommunication device, and/or a chipset such as a Bluetooth™ device, an802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, cellular communicationfacilities, etc., and/or the like. The communications subsystem 830 mayinclude one or more input and/or output communication interfaces topermit data to be exchanged with a network such as the network describedbelow to name one example, other computer systems, television, and/orany other devices described herein. Depending on the desiredfunctionality and/or other implementation concerns, a portableelectronic device or similar device may communicate image and/or otherinformation via the communications subsystem 830. In other embodiments,a portable electronic device, e.g. the first electronic device, may beincorporated into the computer system 800, e.g., an electronic device asan input device 815. In some embodiments, the computer system 800 willfurther comprise a working memory 835, which can include a RAM or ROMdevice, as described above.

The computer system 800 also can include software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 835, including anoperating system 840, device drivers, executable libraries, and/or othercode, such as one or more application programs 845, which may comprisecomputer programs provided by various embodiments, and/or may bedesigned to implement methods, and/or configure systems, provided byother embodiments, as described herein. Merely by way of example, one ormore procedures described with respect to the methods discussed above,such as those described in relation to FIG. 8, might be implemented ascode and/or instructions executable by a computer and/or a processorwithin a computer; in an aspect, then, such code and/or instructions canbe used to configure and/or adapt a general purpose computer or otherdevice to perform one or more operations in accordance with thedescribed methods.

A set of these instructions and/or code may be stored on anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as the storagedevice(s) 825 described above. In some cases, the storage medium mightbe incorporated within a computer system, such as computer system 800.In other embodiments, the storage medium might be separate from acomputer system e.g., a removable medium, such as a compact disc, and/orprovided in an installation package, such that the storage medium can beused to program, configure, and/or adapt a general purpose computer withthe instructions/code stored thereon. These instructions might take theform of executable code, which is executable by the computer system 800and/or might take the form of source and/or installable code, which,upon compilation and/or installation on the computer system 800 e.g.,using any of a variety of generally available compilers, installationprograms, compression/decompression utilities, etc., then takes the formof executable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc., or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ acomputer system such as the computer system 800 to perform methods inaccordance with various embodiments of the technology. According to aset of embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods areperformed by the computer system 800 in response to processor 810executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions, which mightbe incorporated into the operating system 840 and/or other code, such asan application program 845, contained in the working memory 835. Suchinstructions may be read into the working memory 835 from anothercomputer-readable medium, such as one or more of the storage device(s)825. Merely by way of example, execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in the working memory 835 might cause theprocessor(s) 810 to perform one or more procedures of the methodsdescribed herein. Additionally or alternatively, portions of the methodsdescribed herein may be executed through specialized hardware.

The terms “machine-readable medium” and “computer-readable medium,” asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In an embodimentimplemented using the computer system 800, various computer-readablemedia might be involved in providing instructions/code to processor(s)810 for execution and/or might be used to store and/or carry suchinstructions/code. In many implementations, a computer-readable mediumis a physical and/or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take theform of a non-volatile media or volatile media. Non-volatile mediainclude, for example, optical and/or magnetic disks, such as the storagedevice(s) 825. Volatile media include, without limitation, dynamicmemory, such as the working memory 835.

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer-readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patternsof holes, a RAM, a PROM, EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip orcartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can readinstructions and/or code.

Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 810for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer system 800.

The communications subsystem 830 and/or components thereof generallywill receive signals, and the bus 805 then might carry the signalsand/or the data, instructions, etc. carried by the signals to theworking memory 835, from which the processor(s) 810 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 835 may optionally be stored on a non-transitory storage device825 either before or after execution by the processor(s) 810.

The methods, systems, and devices discussed above are examples. Variousconfigurations may omit, substitute, or add various procedures orcomponents as appropriate. For instance, in alternative configurations,the methods may be performed in an order different from that described,and/or various stages may be added, omitted, and/or combined. Also,features described with respect to certain configurations may becombined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elementsof the configurations may be combined in a similar manner. Also,technology evolves and, thus, many of the elements are examples and donot limit the scope of the disclosure or claims.

Specific details are given in the description to provide a thoroughunderstanding of exemplary configurations including implementations.However, configurations may be practiced without these specific details.For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, andtechniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoidobscuring the configurations. This description provides exampleconfigurations only, and does not limit the scope, applicability, orconfigurations of the claims. Rather, the preceding description of theconfigurations will provide those skilled in the art with an enablingdescription for implementing described techniques. Various changes maybe made in the function and arrangement of elements without departingfrom the spirit or scope of the disclosure.

Also, configurations may be described as a process which is depicted asa schematic flowchart or block diagram. Although each may describe theoperations as a sequential process, many of the operations can beperformed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of theoperations may be rearranged. A process may have additional steps notincluded in the figure. Furthermore, examples of the methods may beimplemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode,hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. Whenimplemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the programcode or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium such as a storage medium.Processors may perform the described tasks.

Having described several example configurations, various modifications,alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departingfrom the spirit of the disclosure. For example, the above elements maybe components of a larger system, wherein other rules may takeprecedence over or otherwise modify the application of the technology.Also, a number of steps may be undertaken before, during, or after theabove elements are considered. Accordingly, the above description doesnot bind the scope of the claims.

As used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”,and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictatesotherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a user” includes a pluralityof such users, and reference to “the processor” includes reference toone or more processors and equivalents thereof known to those skilled inthe art, and so forth.

Also, the words “comprise”, “comprising”, “contains”, “containing”,“include”, “including”, and “includes”, when used in this specificationand in the following claims, are intended to specify the presence ofstated features, integers, components, or steps, but they do notpreclude the presence or addition of one or more other features,integers, components, steps, acts, or groups.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for facilitating communication betweentwo vehicles via unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), the method beingimplemented in one or more of a processor configured to executeprogrammed components, the method comprising: receiving from a firstvehicle a communication request to communicate with a second vehicle;transmitting the communication request to the second vehicle via a UAV;receiving information from the second vehicle for communication with thefirst vehicle; forwarding the information to the UAV; obtaining, at theUAV, an identification of the first vehicle; obtaining, at the firstUAV, information regarding the first vehicle using the identification ofthe first vehicle; and base on the information regarding the firstvehicle, establishing a communication channel with the first vehicle,wherein the establishing includes initiating, at the UAV, a request tothe first vehicle requesting the vehicle to accept communications fromthe UAV.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking, at theUAV, the first vehicle using a scan line tracking pattern for an areacovered by the UAV.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining theidentification of the first vehicle includes capturing an image of thefirst vehicle using a camera aboard the UAV.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein obtaining the identification of the first vehicle includesacquiring the identification from a server operative connected to theUAV.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information regarding thefirst vehicle includes communication hardware information specifying oneor more communication components of the first vehicle.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the information regarding the first vehicle is obtainedfrom a server operatively connected to the first vehicle.
 7. The methodof claim 1, wherein establishing the communication channel with thefirst vehicle further includes error controlling, at the UAV, thecommunication channel.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the errorcontrolling includes embedded checksum information in data packetstransmitted to the vehicle.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the errorcontrolling includes receiving an acknowledgement message from the firstvehicle indicating that a data packet transmitted to vehicle has beenreceived by the first vehicle without error.
 10. A system forfacilitating communication between two vehicles via unmanned aerialvehicles (UAV), the system comprising one or more processors configuredby machine readable-instructions to perform: receiving from a firstvehicle a communication request to communicate with a second vehicle;transmitting the communication request to the second vehicle via a UAV;receiving information from the second vehicle for communication with thefirst vehicle; forwarding the information to the UAV; obtaining, at theUAV, an identification of the first vehicle; obtaining, at the firstUAV, information regarding the first vehicle using the identification ofthe first vehicle; and base on the information regarding the firstvehicle, establishing a communication channel with the first vehicle,wherein the establishing includes initiating, at the UAV, a request tothe first vehicle requesting the vehicle to accept communications fromthe UAV.
 11. The system of claim 10, further comprising tracking, at theUAV, the first vehicle using a scan line tracking pattern for an areacovered by the UAV.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein obtaining theidentification of the first vehicle includes capturing an image of thefirst vehicle using a camera aboard the UAV.
 13. The system of claim 10,wherein obtaining the identification of the first vehicle includesacquiring the identification from a server operative connected to theUAV.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the information regarding thefirst vehicle includes communication hardware information specifying oneor more communication components of the first vehicle.
 15. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the information regarding the first vehicle isobtained from a server operatively connected to the first vehicle. 16.The system of claim 10, wherein establishing the communication channelwith the first vehicle further includes error controlling, at the UAV,the communication channel.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the errorcontrolling includes embedded checksum information in data packetstransmitted to the vehicle.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein theerror controlling includes receiving an acknowledgement message from thefirst vehicle indicating that a data packet transmitted to vehicle hasbeen received by the first vehicle without error.